This year I have completed one symphony and started
another. The 12th is in 4 movements and uses some unusual instruments
from South America and the Far East. The work developed from a short
fragment for alto flute, viola and harp. From this small acorn a large
tree grew! The 11th is actually the one that is still being
written. Like my 10th Symphony it is one movement but of a completely
different character. Whereas No.10 developed weighty dramatic material in
a quite strict way, No.11 throws caution to the wind. It might be a
musical portrait of Dante's 'Inferno'. At the moment it has the subtitle
'Tragic Overture'. I have used a larger orchestra than usual for this
work, with a particularly big wind section. Four bassoons may seem extravagant
but I want that eerie sound you can get from them that some French composers
have found in the past - I'm thinking of Berlioz right now. I am also
thinking of my 13th Symphony - I have the first half of it in my head.
The sonority is dominated by strings and harps. Interlocking harmonies on
three harps are oscillating while violas lament. Despite all this stuff
going around I still have a 'Gryphius Sinfonie' in my head, but that has been
there for 20 years and never written down.
